The barbecue grill of the present invention is particularly useful in rotisserie or similar cooking operations because it provides a long-lived fire. A conventional charcoal grill typically provides a bowl, a lid and a rotisserie rod mounted for rotation in the upper center of the volume defined by the bowl and lid. Slow cooking at a relatively low temperature for a substantial period of time is best for rotisserie cooking, smoking and like cooking methods. When usually a conventional charcoal grill, the charcoal is usually piled high on the grate to provide the longest burning fire possible. Vents are usually provided in the bowl and/or lid to control the air supply to the fire and, in order to provide the relatively low heat necessary for rotisserie cooking, the air supply is choked off to the minimum necessary to keep the fire alive.
Even with the charcoal piled high and the air supply restricted to a minimum, a charcoal fire in a conventional grill will not burn long enough for most rotisserie cooking needs. Usually, a charcoal fire will last about two hours, at best, in a conventional grill. Thus, a need exists for a charcoal grill that maximizes the duration of the charcoal fire during rotisserie or other slow cooking methods.
The grill of the present invention achieves a charcoal fire life of 4 hours or more by providing a modified grate and airflow system. In accordance with the present invention, a barbecue cooker has a cooker bowl with an opening, a bottom, a front side, a rear side and two lateral sides. A lid is dimensioned to cover the bowl opening and a support structure is provided for supporting food above the bowl floor. The cooker of the present invention includes an improved grate. A primary grate is disposed within the bowl below the food support structure and is configured to support a charcoal fire. An upper grate is disposed at an elevation above the primary grate but below the food support structure and is configured to support a charcoal fire. The upper grate is spaced from the primary grate at a sufficiently small distance so that a charcoal fire on the primary grate will ignite charcoal disposed on the upper grate. Thus, a long-lived charcoal fire may be achieved by starting a fire on the primary grate and placing fresh charcoal on the upper grate for subsequent ignition and burning.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the primary grate and the upper grate are formed as a single unit with the upper grate being supported on uprights that extend from the primary grate to the upper grate. Preferably, the upper grate is located near the rear of the cooker bowl.
Also, in the preferred embodiment, appropriate airflow within the cooker is achieved by a lower front vent formed on the front side of the bowl and an upper rear vent formed in the rear of the lid. Both the lower front vent and the upper rear vent include dampers or other control structure to control the flow of air through the vents. With the vents located in such positions, an upward and rearward airflow is induced within the cooker which facilitates heat transfer from the primary grate to the upper grate. Thus, the airflow will facilitate the ignition of charcoal on the upper grate by a fire existing on the primary grate.
The grill of the present invention may also be used as a standard outdoor cooking grill with a cooking grid on which steaks or other food may be grilled. When cooking outdoors, it is often desirable to grill different items of food to different degrees of doneness. For example, for reasons of personal taste, it may be desirable to cook one steak to a medium-rare condition and another to medium-well. Using a convention grill, one method of accomplishing this result is to cook some steaks directly over the charcoal fire and to cook others to one side of the fire. This method is not satisfactory because the rare steaks tend to be cooked unevenly and it is difficult to predict the cooking time of the various steaks. In utilizing the present invention for grilling steaks and the like on a cooking grid, two levels of fire may be used. A fire may be started on both the upper grate and the primary grate at the same time and, of course, the fire on the upper grate will be much closer to the cooking grid and will provide faster and hotter cooking. Thus, to cook steaks or other food items to different degrees of doneness on the same cooking grid, the medium-well steaks may be placed on the grid above the upper grate and the medium-rare steaks may be placed over the primary grate. In this manner, all steaks are cooked evenly and directly over the fire and cooking time is much more predictable.